Wierd "grayscale" video issue.

[Squiggoth]

Okay, here's the problem. About 4 or 5 months ago (not sure exact time of start), SOME video I would play would not give correct color. Instead, the video would be in a "grayscale" going from a bright washed out white to a dark blue-ish almost black. Totally odd. SO. Here are some facts.

It is not a program problem. It happens whether I use WMP or Zoom player or BS Player.
It is not a codec problem. It happens on ALL codecs except....see the next point.
Both QT and RM files work fine. Nice pretty color with no issues.
It is not a file problem, as it happens with every file, whether downloaded, created myself, OR a web stream such as MSN Video.
It is not a monitor issue, I have tried another monitor.
Since its not just on one player, it can't be a plugin problem.

I have replaced the following with no fix:
WMP
DirectX
NVidia Video Card drivers
BS Player
EVERY Codec I could find


If I could figure out how to screen-cap WMP playing a file to show you what I mean by grayscale, I would. Any ideas on how to do that?

More importantly, any ideas AT ALL on what this could be? Before I reinstall Windows I want to hear some ideas, please! =)

Thank you in advance for any help.

[fink]

In WMP try going into tools/options/performance and turning hardware acceration off. That may solve the problem. You could also try doing that globally by right clicking the desktop and selecting properties/settings/advanced/troubleshoot to try and get a screenshot.

Also, have you installed the codec pack available here?...

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/K_Lite_Codec_Pack.htm

[Squiggoth]

Thanks fink, I'll try both turning off hardware acceleration and replacing the codecs again.

By the way, with a gig of ram and a 3.0ghz P4, why would I need to lower hardware acceleration? My Vid card is an Nvidia 6800 GT, I'd think that would be okay with hardware acceleration on?

[Squiggoth]

AHA!!!!!!!!! OMG THANK YOU!!! Lowering the hardware acceleration to the "get rid of DirectDraw and DirectX stuff" worked! I think it's some weird program affecting it. Grrr. But it works. So thank you so much.

[Ridgerunr]

It's very possible the 'program affecting it' could be 'real player' and/or 'quicktime player' if you have those installed as full programs. You might try uninstalling them both and using the alternates for Real and Quick from this site (http://home.hccnet.nl/h.edskes/finalbuilds.htm) ...